Best of 2008

Now that the year is over, it is time to look back at all the photos I have taken in the last year and figure out my favorite ones. As many of you know, this is not easy since there are a lot of really good photos in the time of a year, so I have decided to go with a Top 10 of sorts and some honorable mentions. Additionally, Jim Goldstein is doing a Blog project on his great site JMG-Galleries, in which he is asking his blog readers for their favorite photos of the year and I want to participate in this. I also participated in this project last year with my favorite photo of 2007 (on my old blog).

Some honorable mentions (all of them are linked to Flickr so you can see them in a larger version and leave comments on individual photos if you want to do so):A church in the Smoky MountainsSome palm leaves in the Atlanta Botanical GardenDetails of a butterfly in my gardenA close up of a rattle-snakeA sleeping geckoA snail house in the Desert House in ViennaA lux licking his paw in the Opelzoo

And now on to my Top 10 for 2008 – since I have a really hard time putting them in a definite order, I’ll post 10 to 2 in an unorganized fashion. Only my favorite photo of the year is distinguished from the rest for the year.The outside of the Palmhouse in Vienna – my first real try at an HDRA swimming turtle in the Zoo in Berlin, the lighting was just amazing for this shot that has not been edited at all.A heavily edited flower in the Atlanta Botanical Garden. Usually I go for less editing but I love the contrasts in this photo.A Poladroid of a rose in the Atlanta Botanical Garden – so much nicer than the original imageThe old carrousel in my home townI absolutely love to photograph reptiles, they are always striking poses for me. Gotta love it!A water lily in the botanical garden in Frankfurt – I love the colors and perspectives of this oneThis snail house was in the same exhibit as the one in the honorable mentions and I absolutely fell in love with its colors. I was so glad I had my macro lens with me that dayThis photo was taken in the zoo in Berlin – the tiger was putting on a real show of showing his strenght and I was able to get some great photos of him in the process.

Last but not least, my favorite photo for the year:It was taken during a roadtrip over thanksgiving break and I absolutely love the colors and the depth in the photo. It has been my wallpaper ever since I processed the photo (link to my blog post on the processing).